Confronting climate change

Emily is a reporter and newsletter producer for statehouse accountability news organization PA Post, and the senior reporter for statewide public media collaboration Keystone Crossroads. She previously covered city hall for PennLive/The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.) and The Press of Atlantic City, after reporting for the Northwest Herald. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.

From The Context, PA Post’s weekday email newsletter:

A Pennsylvania student taking part in global school walkouts to protest inaction on climate change discussed the initiative on the latest episode of WITF’s Smart Talk. She was joined by a journalist who spent two months alongside scientists studying an at-risk glacier, and the author of a book about potential solutions that can be implemented by communities, the private sector and governments at all levels. Listenhere. -Emily Previti, Newsletter Producer/Reporter

On the energy economy

Jeff Fusco / Getty Images

Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station.

It appears Three Mile Island is definitely closing this fall. The General Assembly hasn’t enacted a nuclear subsidy, and enabling legislation isn’t far enough along for that to happen in the few voting days scheduled before June 1, the deadline given by the plant’s owner for new laws to change the fate of TMI. StateImpact Pennsylvania’s Marie Cusick has been following this story and her latest is here.

Meanwhile, state lawmakers are trying again to enact initiatives that would lead to Pennsylvania running entirely on renewable energy by 2050. A bipartisan group introduced legislation in both chambers of the General Assembly this week. Marie also covered that ensuing discussion.

Natural gas driller EQT faces $330,000 in fines for failing to properly control erosion at two Allegheny County work sites, causing excessive sediment in a nearby tributary of the Monongahela River last year. The company, which fixed the issue without requisite notification to state regulators, notes extremely heavy rainfall in 2018 contributed to the problem. Reid Frazier has more for StateImpact Pennsylvania.

Best of the rest

Starting next month, Pa. prisoners will be able to continue medication-assisted addiction treatment while incarcerated. The policy will be limited, allowing inmates with prescriptions to take suboxone and oral naltrexone, but there are already plans to expand it, WESA’s Sarah Boden reports.

Philly had one of the highest regional foreclosure rates last quarter, according to this analysis from research firm ATTOM Data Solutions. Philly was fifth among major metropolitan statistical areas, behind the nearby NJ metros of Trenton and Atlantic City. Pa.’s statewide rate ranked 11th, but was lower than in the first quarter of 2018. Rates dropped nationally, too, increasing in just four states. Watchdog.org has the full list here.